Yes, it’s been a while since I posted. I can’t say it’s because of lack of time! I just haven’t done it.
If you didn’t know, I’m back on the island, mostly unpacked (but not all put away) from my trip to Florida for xmas. It was a great trip, overall, aside from the random unplanned airplane diversion coupled with my mild dislike of air travel and the unfortunate reality of ongoing family discord. The weather in central Florida was the complete opposite of the Seattle area – we had sun and t-shirts and shorts in Florida, Seattle experienced one of the coldest and snowiest periods in most peoples memory. I personally enjoyed the sun, but really would have enjoyed the snow and all the fun that goes with it!
Los Angeles diversion
To make a long story short, while I missed almost all the snow in Washington, I ran into problems with my flight connecting through Las Vegas due to snow. Vegas had a freak 10″ snowstorm while we were enroute and shortly before we were to land there we were diverted to Los Angeles. Without going into all the details, I was in LA for two solid days waiting for a flight out. It was a busy travel time and I was one of hundreds of people who were diverted and trying their darndest to get out. I didn’t feel like waiting on stand-by for the next flight. And, I thought, heck … I’m in LA and I’ve never been here. There’s people here I’d like to meet and a few things worth seeing, I imagine.
I got to meet the McCartney crew. Spent a few days hanging about their Playa del Rey office and even got some paid work out of it. I had a great time getting to know Christian.
It was interesting, really. Playa del Rey is a nice place. Right on the beach. It’s quite Mediterranean, really. I mean, it certainly is not Europe by any stretch. But there’s something about the area. It was sunny, for sure. Laid-back, clean, but with a definite edge. Playa del Rey seems like a small, neat community with decent restaurants within walking distance. Nice views of the water and close proximity to greater LA. I even had imagined what life could be like there. A web job at a small agency, a condo/house close by and a fast sports car to jet around the area in. It was an interesting thought. And interestingly enough, exactly what Christian is living. He’s got a Porsche. Venice Beach is right there. Hollywood. California at large. Hmmm. I have to say I understand why central/southern CA and LA is attractive and why so many people live there. While it was below freezing and snowing in Seattle, there was but a slight nip in the air in LA (which had everyone in LA complaining). Sure, the place is a complete contrast to what I’m living. And, I don’t think I’d end up liking it there, overall. I can’t quite explain it. Maybe it’s the Hollywood gloss. Life seems easy there. The sun and fun of the beach that calms the mind and creates distance between reality and life in LA.
Sunny Florida with the Family
I did end up buying some things for xmas, despite my previous post. However … I feel good about it. I only bought items that were produced locally on Vashon island, supporting my local economy. I hope my message of buying nothing will resound someday with more people. I think it’s a good idea to reduce our consumption, especially consumption of unnecessary junk. And doubly especially anything cheap and plastic and made in China. Nothing against China, but if more of us supported our local economy rather than going for the cheapest priced stuff from everywhere but the USA, we would not be in the dire predicament we are in now. I do honestly think it is simple as that!
Farm update
Life at the farm is going well. We’re busy. The fence is done. We’ve cleared the area for the new container/farmstand and have a beautiful blue 20′ container dropped of and ready for us to work with. We’ve turned the compost pile a couple times. The processing shed project has made good progress. I’ve made a somewhat shoddy time-lapse video of it. I really want to get a new camera with an intervalometer built in so I can do better time-lapse pictures. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time and I’m finding it hard to resist not buying a D300 to have the quality and features I want! Anyway … building the shed has been fun. We’ve spent 5 days or so building it so far I think, and it’s amazing how fast a building can go up!
Birthday
I turned 35 on the 15th! I can honestly say this year was the first year I think I have felt any anxiety at all about my birthday. I’m not really sure what it was all about. But, I think it has a lot to do with where I’ve been and what I’ve done in the past couple years. And, I guess where I want to be. My birthday day was good enough, although I was disappointed that I didn’t hear from a few special people. But I can’t fault someone I haven’t known very long for not remembering my birthday. And I can’t be petty about remembering their birthday and them not remembering mine! Silly. I guess I have a problem with expecting from other people what I expect from myself. I think now that is a recipe for disappointment. And I hate being disappointed – which makes me realize I need to stop setting myself up for it with unrealistic expectations.
What a great birthday synopsis! ha ha … 
I did have some fun on my birthday. Joe and I worked in the morning on the shed. Then I had lunch with Rob, Joanne and Rose at Plum Forest. After lunch Rob and I went through the seed-sowing and transplanting records from last season to review what worked well and what not planting-wise. It was a nice refresher and brought back great memories from the season.
Later on my birthday I went to a Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration concert to watch the Vashon Free-range Folk Choir. My friends Shane, Emily and Tom from Plum Forest lead the group which includes many people I know here, including Rob and Joanne! It was great to see them perform. They sang mostly acapella pieces, but Tom played piano on a couple and Shane played a djembe a little on a couple songs. The choir was really good. And, I got to see even more people I know from around town. It was a great night!
welcome President Obama!
I am so glad to have Obama in office finally! On inauguration day I went with the family to the Vashon Theater, where the inauguration was being shown on their big screen. We got there and the place was PACKED! People sitting in the aisles and every seat was taken. It was so great to see. That’s one thing I really like about Vashon – people get out here. At least for the big deals, anyway. I would have liked to see that many people at the market buying vegetables from us – there were about 600 people (out of about 10,000 islanders total) at the theater. I enjoyed seeing the inauguration and even loved the moment when Obama and Roberts flubbed the oath. So human! And I was totally irritated at all the media coverage and criticism at such a nothing issue.
Going to Chicago
I have a trip planned to go see my favorite girl, Alissa. I am so very looking forward to it! I’m heading there February 13 – 17th. It’s been too long since we’ve seen each other. Although, I think this is the perfect time to go and a visit sooner would have been a challenge. We’re both better prepared for me to visit as she’s got her own place and I’ve got more dinero (though not a lot!) to travel with. It’s going to be cold, I’m guessing, but I’d like to see Chicago now when it might be at it’s worst and again in the spring and summer! I’ve been thinking about the Windy city for well over a year now (even pre-Alissa) and getting to see the city with Alissa will be a lot of fun!